Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
Some bands are formed great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. For Honey Revenge, it was fate – and Instagram – which brought together LA vocalist Devin Papadol and guitarist Donovan Lloyd. Lloyd was looking for a band to join post-pandemic and sent an out of the blue DM to Papadol, coincidentally while the stay at home orders had led to most of Panadol’s former band to, well, stay at home rather than play shows. Their respective childhoods filled with with Warped Tour fandoms, Disney and Guitar Hero led to this, their debut album; a stunning confessional pop goldmine of honesty, vulnerability and summertime beats from the newly formed duo.
“I’m not so great to check in with,” shares Papadol on single ‘Rerun’, a single that makes you rejoice in your own personal failings over uplifting, pop sweetness that dissolves into a gloriously sticky thumping guitar exorcism. “I wrote the song in a state of severe impatience wondering when the hard work would start paying off. It’s cathartic to know it’s finally making its way into the world especially now that I’m in a much better place,” said Papadol, and these introspective explorations of self and love and your own brain are what drives this debut album. It’s also a ferociously intelligent take on the punchy pop genre.
The central metaphor of love as a mental disorder in ‘Habitual’ is so wittily put and when Donovan lets their pop punk shred out, there’s this mid afternoon summer festival energy that belts through the speakers. Negotiating the pitfalls of longing and love with our modern understanding of mental health can be tough, but by throwing in a pinch of glittery humour Honey Revenge step beyond the cliches of ‘I love you so much it’s driving me mad.’ “I could be your new ritual…” sings Papadol on ‘Habitual’, playing with the language of self help like play-doh. There’s a barely leashed ferocity in the drums on ‘Sensitive’ in between stadium-reaching affirmative key changes on the choruses, and transforming a narrative about becoming attuned to your partner drifting away from the relationship into a very danceable affirmation of your own instincts is beautiful.
There’s also more than a touch of rage lurking at the edges of the positivity too, like we’re witnessing a therapy session as well as a show. “Forever trying to please you, but I can’t,” Papadol vents on ‘Are You Impressed?’, a song that’s probably the most ‘rock’ on the album, along with the despairing chiming shreds of ‘Murphy’s Law’. Honey Revenge don’t provide singalong post-breakup scream anthems, more the kind of songs you dance to when your friends convince you that, yes, you do need to still go out and have fun after heartbreak and something in the melody touches your bruised core. But sometimes that rage is directed internally; ‘Airhead’ is a tirade of self-loathing set to citric synth samples and eighties guitar effects, the pain of disappointment in who you are lurking under the surface in every line while simultaneously being a key part of this total club banger tune.
“When people come to our shows, they can be themselves, and we want to create a space where that’s possible. That’s why it’s important that we’re always our true selves with Honey Revenge,” said Donovan and this sense that ‘Retrovision’ is an album deigned to create self-affirmation and reclamation as well as being a big jumpy summertime pop rock album permeates every track. You’ll laugh, you’ll dance and you might have a huge ugly cathartic crying session when you hear these guys live, but the way they make their experiences into pop gold is incredibly enticing and will win over even the most chart-adverse wallflowers this summer.
Kate Allvey
“I’m not so great to check in with,” shares Papadol on single ‘Rerun’, a single that makes you rejoice in your own personal failings over uplifting, pop sweetness that dissolves into a gloriously sticky thumping guitar exorcism. “I wrote the song in a state of severe impatience wondering when the hard work would start paying off. It’s cathartic to know it’s finally making its way into the world especially now that I’m in a much better place,” said Papadol, and these introspective explorations of self and love and your own brain are what drives this debut album. It’s also a ferociously intelligent take on the punchy pop genre.
The central metaphor of love as a mental disorder in ‘Habitual’ is so wittily put and when Donovan lets their pop punk shred out, there’s this mid afternoon summer festival energy that belts through the speakers. Negotiating the pitfalls of longing and love with our modern understanding of mental health can be tough, but by throwing in a pinch of glittery humour Honey Revenge step beyond the cliches of ‘I love you so much it’s driving me mad.’ “I could be your new ritual…” sings Papadol on ‘Habitual’, playing with the language of self help like play-doh. There’s a barely leashed ferocity in the drums on ‘Sensitive’ in between stadium-reaching affirmative key changes on the choruses, and transforming a narrative about becoming attuned to your partner drifting away from the relationship into a very danceable affirmation of your own instincts is beautiful.
There’s also more than a touch of rage lurking at the edges of the positivity too, like we’re witnessing a therapy session as well as a show. “Forever trying to please you, but I can’t,” Papadol vents on ‘Are You Impressed?’, a song that’s probably the most ‘rock’ on the album, along with the despairing chiming shreds of ‘Murphy’s Law’. Honey Revenge don’t provide singalong post-breakup scream anthems, more the kind of songs you dance to when your friends convince you that, yes, you do need to still go out and have fun after heartbreak and something in the melody touches your bruised core. But sometimes that rage is directed internally; ‘Airhead’ is a tirade of self-loathing set to citric synth samples and eighties guitar effects, the pain of disappointment in who you are lurking under the surface in every line while simultaneously being a key part of this total club banger tune.
“When people come to our shows, they can be themselves, and we want to create a space where that’s possible. That’s why it’s important that we’re always our true selves with Honey Revenge,” said Donovan and this sense that ‘Retrovision’ is an album deigned to create self-affirmation and reclamation as well as being a big jumpy summertime pop rock album permeates every track. You’ll laugh, you’ll dance and you might have a huge ugly cathartic crying session when you hear these guys live, but the way they make their experiences into pop gold is incredibly enticing and will win over even the most chart-adverse wallflowers this summer.
Kate Allvey